NFL draft: Raiders' obsession with speed slowed their progress

They say you can't coach speed, and the Raiders proved that time and again during their strange, sorry final years under Al Davis.

Davis repeatedly used high-round draft picks on prospects with blazing speed and mediocre skills, then watched them become journeymen, if not outright busts.

He drafted five of the 10 fastest players available since the NFL began keeping official 40-yard dash times at the scouting combine in 1999.

The first of the five selections was the fastest: cornerback Stanford Routt, whose 40 time (4.27 seconds) is tied for the fourth fastest ever.

The rest of the ignominious quintet: cornerbacks DeMarcus Van Dyke and Fabian Washington, and receivers Jacoby Ford and Darrius Heyward-Bey.

There isn't an All Pro in the group -- a stark contrast to the success Davis had with burners such as Cliff Branch, Willie Gault and James Jett decades ago.

Even worse is the list of players the Raiders did not select in recent years because of the single-minded focus on speed.

In 2009, Davis dumbfounded even his most ardent supporters by drafting Heyward-Bey (40 time: 4.30 seconds) with the seventh pick of the first round. They could have had Michael Crabtree or Percy Harvin.

In 2011, Davis picked Van Dyke (4.28) in the third round, passing on Richard Sherman (4.53), who went two rounds later and became the best cornerback in the game.

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"The Raiders have traditionally been a height, weight, speed team," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said. "They've made a bunch of mistakes, especially at wide receiver."

Davis died in the fall of 2011. Current general manager Reggie McKenzie has compiled a spotty record when it comes to personnel decisions. But McKenzie doesn't share Davis' love of speed.

"It's important," McKenzie said. "But like I've always said before, so is being a football player.

"When you talk about instincts and your ability to read and react, it's being a football player that's more important than a 40-time."